UNLOCKING EMPLOYABILITY OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATES

A yardstick used to measure tertiary education is employability of its graduates. However the unemployment of graduates, notably caused by lack of employability skills is raising concern among the education providers. In this study, using data from tracer study, a total of 1629 graduates from the field of were used to identify the employability skills sought after by employees. Using a binary logit probability model, eight variables representing the employability skills of graduates were used in the probability model. They are academic qualification, proficiency in the English language, willingness to take challenges, exposure to general knowledge, sensitive towards current affairs and willingness to work overseas. The distinction of this study lies in the homogeneity of the graduates. The role of job experience in getting employed is overcome, by taking only graduates who are seeking employment for the first time and had no job experience. The findings indicate academic qualification and language proficiency are still given prominence by employees.